BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — Former WKU Football players Devon Key (Kansas City Chiefs) and Jordan Meredith (Los Angeles Rams) signed as free agents on Saturday evening following the conclusion of the 2021 NFL Draft.
Key will team up with fellow Hilltopper tight end Deon Yelder in Kansas City. He is believed to be the fourth former WKU player to become a Chief, joining Yelder, Prince Charles Iworah (2017) and Bobby Sippio (2007). Kansas City went 14-2 and was the AFC Champion in 2020 after winning Super Bowl LIV the previous season. The Chiefs’ defensive coordinator is Steve Spagnuolo, who will enter his third campaign with the club in 2021.
The Lexington native capped his Hilltopper career as one of the most accomplished defenders in program history. In four years, he started 49 of a possible 50 games at safety, including 43 straight dating back to the 2017 season. With 350 career tackles, he set the program’s FBS Era (since 2009) record, surpassing Andrew Jackson’s 326 tackles from 2010-13. Those 350 career tackles also placed him 10th on the all-time charts in WKU’s 102-season history, and ranked fourth among FBS players who were active for the 2020 season.
As a senior, Key recorded 92 total tackles (55 solo, 37 assisted) to lead the Hilltoppers, rank third in Conference USA and 23rd in the nation. He added three pass breakups to bring his career total to 19 and an interception in the LendingTree Bowl to push his career number to six. His 15 total tackles vs. Liberty were a career-high and he added four more double-digit performances that upped his career total to 12.
Meredith will team up with fellow Hilltopper tight end Tyler Higbee in Los Angeles. He is believed to be the seventh former WKU player to become a Ram, joining Higbee, Darrell Williams, Jr. (2018), Omarius Bryant (2017), Kadeem Jones (2014), Mike McCoy (1974) and Jim Burt (1965). Los Angeles went 10-6 and made it to the NFC Divisional playoff round in 2020, defeating the Seattle Seahawks in the Wild Card round before losing to the Green Bay Packers.
The Bowling Green native started every single game of the 2020, 2019 and 2018 campaigns – 37 consecutively – to cap his Hilltopper career, totaling 2,574 total snaps at right guard. He was voted to the 2020 All-Conference USA Second Team after obtaining Honorable Mention status in 2019. He was a PFF College Second Team All-American in 2020 after earning an Honorable Mention nod in 2019.
According to PFF College’s Premium Stats, Meredith posted an 81.5 overall blocking grade, 83.9 pass-blocking grade and an 83.9 run-blocking grade in 2020. Among FBS guards, he ranked eighth in overall blocking grade, 13th in pass-blocking grade and seventh in run blocking grade. In 2019, meanwhile, He led C-USA guards across the board with a 77.8 overall blocking grade, 88.9 pass-blocking grade and 76.9 run-blocking grade. His pass-blocking grade led all guards in the nation, while his run-blocking grade was 14th and overall blocking grade ranked 12th.
Along with Key, Meredith, Yelder and Higbee, WKU currently boasts seven other NFL players to make 11 total: Jack Doyle (Indianapolis Colts), George Fant (New York Jets), Joel Iyiegbuniwe (Chicago Bears), Forrest Lamp (Buffalo Bills), Taywan Taylor (Cleveland Browns), Mike White (New York Jets) and recently-signed Hilltopper Basketball alumni Carson Williams (Las Vegas Raiders).
-@WKUSports-
